summary report wdcm training course for developing .... dr. caterina tomulescu, wdcm... · wdcm...

National Institute for Chemical-Pharmaceutical Research & Development, INCDCF-ICCF, ROMANIA

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Summary Report

WDCM Training Course for Developing

Countries on Microbial Resources Information

Management and Utilization

Personal introduction

Participant: Caterina Tomulescu

Ever since I was very young, the passion for nature and animals was very

strong and it followed me over the years; this has lead me to obtain a

bachelor and a master degree in Environmental Sciences – “Ecology and

Environmental Protection” (Fac. Biology, 2007) and “Chemical pollution

of the environment” (Fac. Chemistry, 2012). I am in the final year of my

PhD (Fac. Biotechnology) and my research work is focused on

bioprospecting studies, which involve isolation of different microbial

strains from various natural biotopes in Romania in order to obtain

biological active substances and biomaterials.

Since 2012, I am working as a curator of CMII Culture Collection,

responsible for the environmental protection and scientific researcher in

the INCDCF-ICCF, Romania.


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Collection of Industrial Importance Microorganisms, CMII-ICCF-WFCC

232

ABSTRACT

National Institute for Chemical-Pharmaceutical Research &

Development, INCDCF-ICCF, Romania hosts the CMII-ICCF-WFCC

232 Culture Collection of Industrial Importance Microorganisms.

Established in 1952, the CMII collection, part from the Pharmaceutical

Biotechnologies Department, holds over 400 strains of bacteria, yeasts

and fungi as producers of pharmaceuticals and similar ingredients,

biopolymers, amino acids, enzymes, single-cell proteins, vitamins,

bio-pesticides, and bio-stimulants.

This report describes a short overview of CMII Culture Collection,

WDCM training course and future expectations for further cooperation.

Key words: WFCC 232, CMII, ICCF, microorganisms of industrial

importance, Romania

1. Brief introduction of your Culture Collection.

National Institute for Chemical-Pharmaceutical Research & Development,

INCDCF-ICCF, Romania hosts the CMII-ICCF-WFCC 232 Culture


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Collection. INCDCF - ICCF is organized as 6 main departments involved

in R&D projects applicable by technology transfer and innovation. In the

field of microbial biotechnology, ICCF has a specialized department since

its beginning (1949) and a successful activity of research and

development, whose results have meant more than 500 patents for

inventions and technologies, out of which a large number was transferred

in industry. Only over the last 7 years, ICCF has been coordinating

around 17 microbial biotechnology projects in national R&D programs.

The biotechnology department has a notable experience regarding

processing of agricultural wastes as renewable energy sources and

collaborates with the Analysis Department (GLP certified) to perform

studies and determinations, checking the conformity to required EU

standards. Projects on environment and agriculture, plus the services

offered by various studies especially the analytical ones, contribute to a

high experience accumulated over time.

About CMII Culture Collection:

Established in 1952, the CMII collection, part from the Pharmaceutical

Biotechnologies Department, holds over 400 strains of bacteria, yeasts

and fungi (other 102 strains are pending identification). Since then,

CMII as an in house Culture Collection has grown in the frame of

projects financed by public authorities and companies.


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Since 1981, CMII has been registered at the World Federation of

Culture Collections (id number WFCC 232). In 2014, CMII joined in a

pan-European distributed research infrastructure, Microbial Resource

Research Infrastructure – MIRRI, as a collaborating party and

national node in Romania. The collection strains are of industrial

importance (biohazard groups 1 and 2) as producers of pharmaceuticals

and similar ingredients, biochemicals, as well as for veterinary and

agrochemical use. A lot of them were obtained through programs of

mutagenesis and artificial selection and found industrial applications:

biopolymers, amino acids, enzymes, single-cell proteins, vitamins,

bio-pesticides, bio-stimulants. 60 strains and procedures are protected by

patents.

The CMII-ICCF main directions are focusing on bioactive substances and

biomaterials synthesis, R&D upstream and downstream processes, mostly

with pharmaceutical applications. They are further developed to

medicines or similar health products by pharmaceutical technology,

analytical and pharmacological characterization studies in the institute.

Therefore, the main function of CMII is to maintain strains of research

interest, most of them having potential industrial application in amino

acids, enzymes, probiotics, biopolymers SCP, food and fodder additives

production, green chemistry.


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Some examples of the biosynthesis technologies provided through the

research studies, which were mainly conducted in the frame of many

national projects are summarized here: obtainment of bacterial xylanase,

pullulan (type), curdlan and xanthan polyssacharides, biodegradable

biopoliesters, “Bactosan” – product of veterinary use and “Bactobiogen”

- product for human use, both to restore normal intestinal flora, microbial

ecological products with biostimulation and biofertilization action,

biological products used for the control of pathogenic fungi attacking

culture plants, probiotics with microorganisms (for veterinary use),

chromiated yeast biomass with hypoglycemiant action, yeast biomass

bioproduct enriched in chromium and selenium with antioxidant and

antidiabetic action, seleniated yeast biopreparate from Saccharomyces

cerevisiae cultures with antioxidant action etc.

The CMII Culture Collection has an online catalogue (the third edition

was developed in accordance with the CABRI instructions Common

Access to Biotechnological Resources - Laboratory Procedure for

Microorganisms; it contains the descriptions of 250 strains, in their vast

majority of biotechnological interest - other 208 strains are currently

being characterized and verified, and other 102 are pending

identification). The origin of the strains is mainly constituted from natural

biotopes, other Service Collections throughout the country and abroad or


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exchanges among collections in the country under RDI contracts. The

strains are tested and characterized regarding their biotechnological

potential and used to obtain derivatives or pharmaceutical products. The

techniques applied in CMII - ICCF - WFCC 232 for long-term

preservation of microorganisms are slant cultures, lyophilisation and

liquid nitrogen storage.

The catalogue can be downloaded through the Institute webpage:

http://cfarm.ncpri.ro/sct_1/page_58/culture_collection_of_industrial_imp

ortance_microorganisms_-_cmii.htm

2. Benefit from the training courses.

The major benefits provided by the WDCM training course could be

described in terms of both, personal and institutional.

Therefore,

personal achievements could be characterized as follows: above all, as a

participant at WDCM training course I am tremendously grateful for this

opportunity, which has met some of the most important development

needs in terms of my starting career as a scientific researcher, in the field

of microbiology. Secondly, truly appreciated was the possibility to

broaden my perspective over what does worldwide research work mean.

And last but not least, since the beginning of my trip to China until now, I

have found a very pleasant feeling about myself, regarding some

http://cfarm.ncpri.ro/sct_1/page_58/culture_collection_of_industrial_importance_microorganisms_-_cmii.htm

http://cfarm.ncpri.ro/sct_1/page_58/culture_collection_of_industrial_importance_microorganisms_-_cmii.htm


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particular matters, such as communication and social abilities, as well as

adapting to a totally new environment; I have been quite unexpectedly

impressed about how significant and continuously extensive these could

be, in order to fulfill my curiosity and exploring needs.

On the other side,

from the institutional perspective, as a scientific researcher, main curator

of CMII Culture Collection and responsible for environmental issues, I

would like to highlight the main benefits provided by WDCM training

course:

Foremost,

one of the substantial gains is principally related to the worldwide

visibility; the CMII’s necessity to be visible at international level has

started a long time ago, when the WFCC identification number (232) was

given due to the its registration at the World Federation of Culture

Collections, in 1981. At the same time, uploading our strains information

in the Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (GCM) has been considered a

great step forward to promote CMII’s research work.

The WDCM training course came as a very well appreciated and helpful

winning for our young researchers, who are working hard to maintain,

revive and the most important, to reveal the great biotechnological

resources of an “old-fashioned” Culture Collection as a real treasure for


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economic development, taking into account the actual necessities for

green technologies, so mandatory for a clean and healthy environment.

Furthermore, the course lead to a “communication network” established

between the participants from different countries, which, hopefully, could

be considered as a starting “platform” for future collaborations.

WDCM offered an opportunity for small collections to take a closer look

on how some of the most prestigious collections in the world and not only,

are working together in order to disseminate their knowledge and

management practices. Information about their services, preservation and

identification methods, research projects, databases, standards and future

expectations were also provided. With this occasion, idea of developing a

national network in Romania has immediately started to “bloom”, as a

solution to bring together all our small Culture Collections in order to be

more visible for industry.

The main interest of CMII is focused on promoting the industrial

importance microorganisms preserved in the collection, beyond national

borders and this training course offered useful information about the

infrastructure necessities, the efficient management of biological

resources, the compliance with Nagoya Protocol and CBD and different

ISOs (ISO TC 276 – Biotechnology, especially). Lectures about different

resources networks, biotechnology, metagenomics, and newest research


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in pathogens taxonomy, bioinformatics or the latest publications in the

field were also, greatly appreciated.

It was a real honor to participate at the WDCM 50th anniversary, where

some of the most renowned science names in the world presented their

latest research results.

3. Suggestion on WDCM work.

The huge efforts made by the WDCM team in order to establish and

continuously develop some of the most recognized databases in the world

are highly appreciated. It is a major step for Culture Collections, by

promoting and supporting them to become more visible for worldwide

users. Offering easy access at related information bring together both,

scientific community and global industry.

As a beginner user of WDCM databases and a young curator, I have only

a few suggestions, although from a personal perspective:

- e.g http://gcm.wfcc.info/cc/ - it would be very useful if you can

introduce a short description for each of the following terms:

ORDERS, DEPOSITS and MTA, so as all of database users (the

beginner ones and those from very small collections, especially) to

know what should be uploaded. Also, it will be useful if you can

provide some example formats…yes, every Culture Collection is

different, but a minimum set of information can be used as a model


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to adapt those documents, according to every collection’s specific

needs, of course.

- ABC database for microorganisms search should be better

promoted; I have not seen any reference on WDCM website for

this database.

- It would be easier if a special function for “password/user name

recovery” will be designed.

- Developing an “Industrial users” section will be a useful tool, so as

the worldwide industrial demands and possible “supplies” from

different research areas (e.g microorganisms, technologies,

bio-products, drugs) easily connect.

- Organizing workshops for worldwide Culture Collections about the

following thematic: “Why Standardization is so important

nowadays, and how can it be implemented, even for small CCs,

with limited financial resources?”; motivation - advantages, how to

do it, what is mandatory, etc.

4. Comments or suggestion on the training courses.

First of all, I am very thankful for the opportunity which WDCM offered

me; participating at this training course was a real chance to get

familiarized with data management, so mandatory for curators.

Besides very informative lectures, WDCM training course offered an


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enlarged picture of how could biological resources be managed efficiently.

Many examples of databases were provided and the trainees were

“updated” with the latest research trends in various research areas.

Although, I expected that Microbial Biotechnology will receive a more

focused interest, because it is a valuable resource for the industry’s

sustainable development.

A better Wi-Fi connection would be appreciated in order to easy handle

with the data practice tasks.

5. Suggestion on further cooperation between WDCM and your

collection.

First of all, CMII expects WDCM to continue supporting small Culture

Collections to become widely known.

Secondly, as a Culture Collection of Industrial Importance

Microorganisms, a further cooperation regarding Biotechnology

promotion through WDCM work will be greatly appreciated.

It would be an idea if WDCM will concentrate some efforts in order to

develop and implement a strategy to help small CCs to “grow-up” their

economic potential. For example, in some developing countries WDCM’s

workshops could be organized, throughout the industrial users and

researchers meet and present their needs and offers, respectively. In this

case, WDCM, considered the most representative foundation for


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bio-resources worldwide visibility could act as a promoter, encouraging

the private sector to take a closer look at microbial resources and their

promising biotechnological potential (state of art for some of the most

successful implemented technologies using bio-resources).

Contact: Scientific Researcher Caterina Tomulescu,

Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Department,

National Institute for Chemical Pharmaceutical

Research and Development,

112,Vitan Ave 031299, district 3, Bucharest

Mobile: +40745194834

Tel:+4-021-321.21.17; Fax: +4-021-322.29.17

w eb: http://cfarm.ncpri.ro/

email:[email protected]

summary report wdcm training course for developing .... dr. caterina tomulescu, wdcm... · wdcm...

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